The Venezuelan government has bought the country's leading privately-owned power provider, marking a new phase in its nationalisation programme. The state is to pay $740m (£378m) for the 82% stake in Electricidad de Caracas owned by US company AES Corp. In private hands since 1885, the firm provides power to the capital, Caracas. Key resources such as power and oil are being brought under state control to fulfil President Hugo Chavez's vision of a "socialist economy". Public ownership The country's leading telecommunications firm is also being nationalised. The Chavez government argues that public ownership of key industries will enable Venezuela to channel its natural resources better for the benefit of its people and tackle poverty more effectively. However, the nationalisation drive has worried foreign investors and affected the country's stock market. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

The city’s police department, tarnished in the past by charges of brutality and racism, is defending itself against fresh criticism over how officers decide whom to stop and search on the streets. Statistics provided by the police department to the City Council last week show a fivefold increase since 2002 in the number of so-called “stop and frisks,” to more than 500,000 in 2006. The majority of people stopped, about 55 percent, were black, the numbers show. About 30 percent were Hispanic and 11 percent were white. The numbers have stoked anger among many people still upset over the deadly police shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell on his wedding day in November....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9923107/

A British soldier was killed and three others were wounded today when a roadside bomb exploded just outside Basra, in southern Iraq, military officials said.The attack took place around 1pm local time (1000 GMT) at an intersection about three miles south-east of the city, according to a spokeswoman for British forces in Iraq.News of the death came as the US defence secretary said there was mounting evidence Iran was helping to arm Iraqi insurgents attacking US and British troops.The unnamed soldier is the 101st member of British forces to die though hostile action in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003....http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2009686,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Arturo Esquivel shakes his head as he pays 10 pesos (90 cents) for tortillas in Mexico City, two- thirds more than a year ago. He'd be even angrier to learn that Chicago bond analyst Philip Adams's SUV may be to blame. The General Motors Corp. Yukon XL sport-utility vehicle runs on ethanol, a fuel made from the corn that also influences the cost of Esquivel's tortilla, feeds the chickens, pigs and cows raised for consumption worldwide and sweetens soft drinks. Demand for corn as the raw material for an alternative vehicle fuel is creating unintended consequences throughout the global food chain. Midwest corn growers are commanding prices not seen in a decade: the crop surpassed $4.20 a bushel Jan. 17, almost double its September price. Yet farmers who raise livestock are seeing feed costs soar, and companies from Tyson Foods Inc. to Coca-Cola Co. are warning of higher prices. Even environmentalists say using more corn will have drawbacks....http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aGO5U5hvoz5Y&refer=exclusive

Pentagon officials undercut the intelligence community in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq by insisting in briefings to the White House that there was a clear relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, the Defense Department's inspector general said Friday. Acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the office headed by former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith took "inappropriate" actions in advancing conclusions on al Qaeda connections not backed up by the nation's intelligence agencies. Gimble said that while the actions of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy "were not illegal or unauthorized," they "did not provide the most accurate analysis of intelligence to senior decision makers" at a time when the White House was moving toward war with Iraq. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/09/iraq/main2452482.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2452482

The main U.S. envoy to talks on North Korea’s nuclear program said Friday that all sides agreed on broader issues in a disarmament proposal, but that disputes remained over finer points. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the remaining issues to be resolved were in a single paragraph of a Chinese proposal for a set of reciprocal steps aimed at implementing a 2005 deal that calls for North Korea to disarm in exchange for security guarantees and aid. Hill said the envoys were working to rewrite the text to address North Korea’s concerns. He did not give any details. “The fundamental issues, we’re OK on,” Hill said. Japan’s envoy, Kenichiro Sasae, said while there was consensus on some points, but that there was no prospect of an imminent agreement....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16967996/